Aussie Finch Forum

I have Gouldians, Singers, Ruddys, Melbas, Silver Bills, Cordons, Orange Breasted, Double Bars, Parrot finch, Tri colours, and Plum heads. They all have their favorite foods . . . so besides a good quality finch mix (Avigrain), I supply whole (attached to the wall-most popular when the birds come from a pet shop/breeder) and ground cuttlefish, egg & biscuit mix and hulled oats (red headed parrots love these), hemp seed (a favorite of all), chia seed, crumbles (quail love this), niger seed, sesame seed, 'Trill' veg mix-in and another quality finch mix (Birdzone 'canary & finch') and flax seed (for the oils). . . oh they also get extra small crickets, fresh cucumber, occasionally corn and different greens daily. I try to access organic food when I can as this holds the best nutritional levels.
The finch seed is in a hanging feeder so seed gets knocked out, the seed that falls is wet when we hose and it is in a constant state of growth, providing fresh greens for them to graze at will - this is the favourite. I change their drinking/bathing water daily.
When the lemon grass is on seed, they also get the whole stalk and everyone is all over it until the seeds are gone.
The aviary is also planted out with a number of finch friendly plants as you can see in the photos.

Sounds like an excellent finch buffett.
LML

They sound very well taken care of. You have a nice variety of birds, too.

Looks like a great set-up . .

Birds look healthy . . congratulations



My warning would be . . no spillage on the floor

Have a container such as a large plastic storage box to catch spilled seed

Seed on the ground may germinate . . fine . . , or may go mouldy . . not so fine . . resulting in fungal problems with your birds

Better to sprout your seeds, feed as such, and remove daily leftovers

NO uncontained food on the floor is a pretty good rule

Nice looking aviary and birds

A couple of things you could add include a bowl of mineral grit and some green grass seeds. You can grow finch mix in a pot and when it has developed green seed heads, you put the pot in the aviary and let the birds feed on it. You could do a similar thing with the seed that is germinating on the floor, whereby you put a cage over the seed and let it grow up and through the wire. The birds can pick at it through the wire and when it produces seed heads they will eat that.
There is more info on growing your own green grass seeds at the following link.
viewtopic.php?f=84&t=21732&p=188305#p188305

You can make soaked or sprouted seed, which is what you have on the floor with the seed germinating and growing. Except if you sprout it and put it in a bowl, it remains a bit cleaner.

You can also have a piece of cuttlebone and dip it in sea water and then put it in the aviary. The water will evaporate leaving behind small amounts of salt and other minerals and the birds can pick at that. Each week you rinse the cuttlebone under freshwater to keep it clean, then put it back in sea water for a minute before putting back in the aviary.

All in all tho, you are providing a pretty good diet for the birds

Hello Rod, interesting idea with the cuttlebone.
I had always assumed, given I collect mine from the beach, that it is already "impregnated" with sea water.
What is the purpose of weekly washing, other than to remove contamination with bird poo?

Cheers
Brett

Nice aviary Tracey, sorry to highjack your thread

Sounds and looks like your finches are getting enough nutrients. As arthur said, seeds that fall might not always germinate so it becomes mouldy. Then finches come and eat the seed, and get sick.